Climate change is real. There, I said it. At least it is in California’s San Joaquin Valley, anyway. On the surface, that’s a really odd-sounding statement, I know. But, it’s true. And, air pollution, apparently, is behind the change. I can explain. Okay, so I might be skeptical if I hadn’t witnessed the shift with … Read more

The below May 20, 2019 press release is from the British Safety Council. The British Safety Council has launched a report ‘Impact of air pollution on the health of outdoor workers’ which provides compelling evidence to recognize ambient air pollution as an occupational health hazard in Britain. In the report, the charity presents the demands … Read more

This is the follow-on article to: “With cleaner Valley air, there can never, ever be any going back.” In the earlier post presented was information that consistent with the San Joaquin Valley air becoming less polluted over time (essentially between 1980 and 2016), there has been a far lower incidence of widespread, wintertime fog across … Read more

The evidence seems clear: “The Central Valley’s heavy wintertime tule fog – known for snarling traffic and closing schools – has been on the decline over the past 30 years, and falling levels of air pollution are the cause, says a new study by scientists at the University of California, Berkeley,” as was explained in … Read more

The below April 5, 2019 press release is from the Center for Biological Diversity. A California state judge has affirmed the constitutional right of residents concerned about air and climate pollution to challenge power plant siting decisions in their local Superior Court. In 2013 Earthjustice, Communities for a Better Environment [CBE] and the Center for … Read more

The below May 7, 2019 press release is from the National Parks Conservation Association. Of the 417 national parks evaluated, 96 percent of America’s national parks are plagued by significant air pollution problems. This and other alarming facts were included in Polluted Parks: How America is failing to protect our national parks, people and planet … Read more

Transportation needs fixing – plainly and simply put, it needs to be overhauled. Carbon emissions from this sector worldwide have now reached 29 percent, thereby contributing the largest percentage of emissions of all emissions-generating sectors, cars, trucks and buses being the primary contributors. In California, meanwhile, as environmental reporter Julie Cart at CALmatters has suggested, … Read more

Well, here it is May 3, 2019, day number five, the final day of the five-day Air Quality Awareness Week of 2019 and what I want to convey is this: All of the ground that was covered in this “Air Quality Awareness Week 2019” series could be expanded to more broadly apply to what is … Read more

The Great Recession demonstrated just what cities were made of, i.e., what kind of mettle each of our communities had. From what I remember, it was pretty much a case of every community for itself. In terms of their coming through the ordeal, they either got it right, full recovery being a foregone conclusion or … Read more

Air is either healthy to breathe or it isn’t. Within the “isn’t” designation, based on U.S. Air Quality Index (AQI) information, there is the “Moderate” category (AQI of between 51 and 100), the “Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups” reading (101-150), the “Unhealthy” classification (151-200), the “Very Unhealthy” declaration (201-300) and the “Hazardous” level (301 and above). … Read more